In the Bronx, a Collision of Cars, Celebrity and Copyright; New York Times, 11/28/11

David Gonzalez, New York Times; In the Bronx, a Collision of Cars, Celebrity and Copyright:

"To get that Bronx flavor that so inspired Ms. Lopez “to be tougher…to stay sharper…to think faster,” the spot’s producer stitched in a series of details intended to evoke the South Bronx — a break dancer, a guy drumming on a pail and a stunningly colored graffiti mural, the words “I ❤ the Bronx” clearly visible as the camera pans past the wall. But Fiat and its ad agency, Doner, may have missed one neighborhood detail that could lead to legal action: the copyright symbol on the lower right corner of the mural."

Revealing the Habits of Copyright Advocates; New York Times, 12/16/11

J. David Goodman, New York Times; Revealing the Habits of Copyright Advocates:

"As Congress moves forward on two bills aimed at curbing online piracy, a Web site has given opponents a way to attack those lobbying for the measures by exposing their illegal downloads.

The site, youhavedownloaded.com, allows users to search through publicly available data that links roughly 50 million file-sharing users to specific content downloaded on torrent sites, which allow movies, television shows and other large files to be rapidly shared."

Library Copyright Alliance Releases Letter Welcoming OPEN Act; Digital Shift, 12/16/11

David Rapp, Digital Shift; Library Copyright Alliance Releases Letter Welcoming OPEN Act:

"Earlier this week, the Library Copyright Alliance (LCA)—made up of the American Library Association, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and the Association of College & Research Libraries—released an open letter [PDF] to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), “welcoming [the] release” of a discussion draft bill the legislators have sponsored. Called the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade (OPEN) Act, the bill has been touted as a potential alternative to SOPA."

Stop Online Piracy Act Vote Delayed; Wired.com, 12/16/11

David Kravets, Wired.com; Stop Online Piracy Act Vote Delayed:

"The House Judiciary Committee considering whether to send the Stop Online Piracy Act to the House floor abruptly adjourned Friday with no new vote date set —a surprise given that the bill looked certain to pass out of committee today.

The committee’s chairman and chief sponsor of the legislation, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), agreed to further explore a controversial provision that lets the Attorney General order changes to core internet infrastructure in order to stop copyright infringement.

Smith said the hearing would resume at the “earliest practical day that Congress is in session.” That could be weeks."

Lines Drawn on Antipiracy Bills; New York Times, 12/14/11

Edward Wyatt, New York Times; Lines Drawn on Antipiracy Bills:

"A House committee plans to take up one of the bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act, on Thursday...

“Our mistake was allowing this romantic word — piracy — to take hold,” Tom Rothman, the co-chief executive of Fox Filmed Entertainment, said in an interview last week in Washington.

“It’s really robbery — it’s theft — and that theft is being combined with consumer fraud,” he said."

E-Books, Shmee-Books: Readers Return to the Stores; New York Times, 12/12/11

Julie Bosman, New York Times; E-Books, Shmee-Books: Readers Return to the Stores:

"Facing economic gloom and competition from cheap e-readers, brick-and-mortar booksellers entered this holiday season with the humblest of expectations.

But the initial weeks of Christmas shopping, a boom time for the book business, have yielded surprisingly strong sales for many bookstores, which report that they have been lifted by an unusually vibrant selection; customers who seem undeterred by pricier titles; and new business from people who used to shop at Borders, the chain that went out of business this year."

Yoga Pose Copyright Bid Too Big of a Stretch, Regulator Says; BusinessWeek, 12/12/11

Ellen Rosen, BusinessWeek; Yoga Pose Copyright Bid Too Big of a Stretch, Regulator Says:

"Yoga poses such as head-to-knee stretches and the sequences of the moves are “exercises” rather than “choreography” and can’t be copyrighted in the U.S., regulators said.

The U.S. Copyright Office previously permitted yoga poses and their sequences to be registered, even if those exercises were in the public domain, Laura Lee Fischer, acting chief of the office’s Performing Arts Division, said in response to an inquiry by an attorney involved in lawsuits the founder of Bikram Yoga filed against three yoga studios.

The office reviewed the legislative history of the copyright law and decided that exercises, including yoga, “do not constitute the subject matter that Congress intended to protect as choreography,” Fischer said in an e-mail."

Exploring open access in higher education: live chat best bits; Guardian, 12/7/11

Eliza Anyangwe, Guardian; Exploring open access in higher education: live chat best bits:

"What is the benefit of open access to academia? Who will pay for open education resources? These questions and many more are answered by our live chat panel"

HathiTrust Defendants Respond to Authors Guild Lawsuit; Chronicle of Higher Education, 12/5/11

Chronicle of Higher Education; HathiTrust Defendants Respond to Authors Guild Lawsuit:

"The HathiTrust digital repository and the five universities sued by the Authors Guild and others over mass book digitization and alleged copyright infringement have filed a response to the lawsuit."

Dyson seeks to block copycat manufacturers in China; Guardian, 12/4/11

Dan Milmo, Guardian; Dyson seeks to block copycat manufacturers in China:

"The billionaire inventor Sir James Dyson has warned China that it risks being expelled from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over copyright breaches including rip-offs of his famed inventions."

SOPA on the ropes? Bipartisan alternative to 'Net censorship emerges; ArsTechnica.com, 12/2/11

Nate Anderson, ArsTechnica.com; SOPA on the ropes? Bipartisan alternative to 'Net censorship emerges:

"But rightsholders do need some means of enforcing copyrights and trademarks, something tough to do when a site sets up overseas and willfully targets American consumers with fake goods and unauthorized content...

Fortunately, plenty can be done, and it can be done in a way that doesn't raise the same immediate concerns about due process and censorship. One promising alternative was unveiled today by a bipartisan group of 10 senators and representatives. It ditches the “law and order” approach to piracy and replaces it with a more limited, trade-based system.

And the legislators behind it have put out a draft of the idea for public comment before they even begin drawing up actual legislation."

Colbert Takes On SOPA; TechDirt.com, 12/2/11

Mike Masnick, TechDirt.com; Colbert Takes On SOPA:

"Want to see just how mainstream the issues of SOPA and PROTECT IP are becoming? Last night they made it on to The Colbert Report, where he had a bit of a debate about SOPA, between record label owner Danny Goldberg and Harvard professor Jonathan Zittrain. It kicked off with a short segment, where Colbert explained the issue."

Cambridge U. Press Would Like to Rent You an Article; Chronicle of Higher Education, 11/30/11

Jennifer Howard, Chronicle of Higher Education; Cambridge U. Press Would Like to Rent You an Article:

"A highly informal poll on Twitter produced more initial skepticism than enthusiasm about the Cambridge article-rental plan. ”24 hours access, w/o ability to markup or download, or view again? Nope. No researcher I know would get much use from a 24-hour evaporative e-article,” one librarian responded. Another said, “Do they use the flashing device from ‘Men in Black’ to wipe any memory of the article after 24 hours as well?” One researcher said it seemed most likely to appeal to researchers without institutional affiliations."

[Book Review of Robert Levine's "Free Ride"] Inconspicuous Consumption; New York Times, 11/25/11

[Book Review of Robert Levine's "Free Ride"] New York Times; Inconspicuous Consumption:

"In “Free Ride,” a book that should change the debate about the future of culture, Robert Levine argues, in effect, that Samuel Johnson was right, and that it’s the self-interested Silicon Valley technology companies and their well-financed advocates who are wrong. “The real conflict online,” Levine writes, “is between the media companies that fund much of the entertainment we read, see and hear and the technology firms that want to distribute their content — legally or otherwise.” By delivering content they don’t pay for, or selling content far below the price it cost to create, Levine says, information and entertainment distributors like YouTube and The Huffington Post become “parasites” on the media companies that invest substantially in journalists, musicians and actors; the distributors drive down prices in a way that sucks the economic lifeblood out of those who create and finance the best achievements of our culture. The result is a “digital version of Wal-Mart capitalism,” in which free-riding distributors reap all the economic benefits of the Internet by cutting prices, and culture suppliers are forced to cut costs in response. This dynamic, Levine argues, destroys the economic incentive to create the kinds of movies, television, music and journalism consumers demand, and for which they are, in fact, quite willing to pay."

SOPA Opponents' Bogus Net Neutrality Comparisons; Forbes, 11/28/11

Scott Cleland, Forbes; SOPA Opponents' Bogus Net Neutrality Comparisons:

"In sum, net neutrality and stopping online piracy are very different issues...

With fixes to ensure the legislation only targets rogue websites and does not create unintended problems by requiring actual website blocking or traffic filtering, support for online anti-piracy legislation is likely to strongly consolidate as the bills progress, enabling it to become law in this Congressional session. To paraphrase Mark Twain: Internet reports of SOPA’s death are greatly exaggerated."

[Editorial] Piracy vs. an open Internet; Los Angeles Times, 11/25/11

[Editorial] Los Angeles Times; Piracy vs. an open Internet:

"Although much of Silicon Valley is up in arms about the House bill, there is a clear path to consensus. Lawmakers should craft a bill focused on cutting off funding for foreign sites that really are dedicated to infringement. If they have any doubt that such an approach can be effective, they should consider WikiLeaks. Efforts to block access to the site were an abject failure. Cutting off the company's ability to collect funds from its supporters, however, has pushed it to the brink of bankruptcy."

[Editorial ] Going After the Pirates; New York Times, 11/26/11

[Editorial] New York Times; Going After the Pirates:

"The bill should be made to stipulate clearly that all of its provisions are aimed only at rogue Web sites overseas. Foreign sites must be granted the same safe harbor immunity — and the bill must not open the door to punishments for domestic sites that abide by the 1998 digital copyright law. And rather than encouraging credit card companies and advertising networks to pre-emptively cut off business to Web sites accused of wrongdoing, a court order should be required before they take action."

Penguin Restores Kindle Lending, but Still Not Providing Digital Editions of New Titles; The Digital Shift, 11/23/11

Michael Kelley, The Digital Shift; Penguin Restores Kindle Lending, but Still Not Providing Digital Editions of New Titles:

"Penguin Group (USA) has backtracked from at least part of its recent decision to limit library lending."

Librarians Face Patrons Unhappy With Penguin Policy Change; ALA Condemns Ebook Decision; The Digital Shift, 11/22/11

Michael Kelley, The Digital Shift; Librarians Face Patrons Unhappy With Penguin Policy Change; ALA Condemns Ebook Decision:

"Todd Feinman, the chairman of the Oregon Digital Library Consortium (ODLC) , which has 22 library systems in its network (over 100 locations), said more complaints were likely forthcoming.

“I think that the whole paradigm is shifting and I imagine that there will be more of this over time,” he said. “I don’t know where this is going. These things are usually a surprise to us. It’s just hard to say what a publisher is going to do next,” he said.

Feinman said libraries could always boycott if necessary. ODLC has refused to license any ebooks from HarperCollins to protest that publisher’s February decision to limit library loans to 26 circulations."

European Court Rejects Call for I.S.P.’s to Curb Illegal File Sharing; New York Times, 11/24/11

Eric Pfanner, New York Times; European Court Rejects Call for I.S.P.’s to Curb Illegal File Sharing:

"The highest court in the European Union said on Thursday that Internet service providers could not be required to monitor their customers’ online activity to filter out the illegal sharing of music and other copyrighted material.

The ruling, by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, is a setback for a Belgian group representing music copyright owners, which had sought tougher measures to crack down on online file sharing."

Movie fans turn to piracy when the online cupboard is bare; Guardian, 11/22/11

Cory Doctorow, Guardian; Movie fans turn to piracy when the online cupboard is bare:

"Ask anyone who's studied copyright policy – scholars of music and literature, economists, sociologists, law professors – and they'll tell you that the No 1 problem with copyright is that it is enacted without recourse to evidence...

Writing in the Guardian, Ben Goldacre has examined the most-cited statistics about piracy, job creation and GDP contributions in the so-called creative industries and found them so singularly lacking that he declared: "As far as I'm concerned, everything from this industry is false, until proven otherwise.""

Music label sues over Seth Rogen's 50/50; Guardian, 11/21/11

Ben Child, Guardian; Music label sues over Seth Rogen's 50/50:

"A Florida-based music and fashion label is suing the makers of the Seth Rogen/Joseph Gordon-Levitt cancer comedy 50/50, claiming it owns the copyright to the title.

Eastland Music Group (EMG) says it has been using the names 50/50 and Phifty-50 records to sell music by a hip-hop duo of the same name since 2000. They allege the film's release in US cinemas has already confused consumers."

WIPO SCCR Constructs Library Exceptions Topics For Discussion; Intellectual Property Watch, 11/23/11

William New, Intellectual Property Watch; WIPO SCCR Constructs Library Exceptions Topics For Discussion:

"The World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee today agreed on “clusters” of topics under which they will discuss topics related to limitations and exceptions to copyright for libraries and archives, with an eye toward a possible instrument in the future."

“Marathon” WIPO Copyright Session Opens With Hopes, Treaty Prospects; Intellectual Property Watch, 11/22/11

William New, Intellectual Property Watch; “Marathon” WIPO Copyright Session Opens With Hopes, Treaty Prospects:

"Officials from around the world have gathered for the next two weeks at the World Intellectual Property Organization in hopes of resolving the fate of several longstanding copyright policies under debate."

Penguin Suspends E-Book Availability to Libraries; New York Times, 11/22/11

Julie Bosman, New York Times; Penguin Suspends E-Book Availability to Libraries:

"Another major publisher has pushed back against making its e-books available to library users. Penguin Book Group said it would “delay the availability” of new e-books to libraries because of security concerns."

Anti-piracy bill meets Web-freedom backlash; CNN.com, 11/18/11

Doug Gross, CNN.com; Anti-piracy bill meets Web-freedom backlash:

"A bill moving through Congress is intended, on its surface at least, to do something relatively simple: Crack down on the illegal pirating of movies, music and other copyrighted material.

But a major online backlash has evolved, with everyone from lawmakers to Web-freedom advocates to some of technology's biggest players calling it a greedy and dangerous overreach that could have a chilling effect on free speech and innovation.

Google, Yahoo and Facebook are among the Web heavyweights who have joined the chorus against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which backers hope to have ready for a vote by the end of the year."

Strange bedfellows: Nancy Pelosi, Ron Paul join SOPA opposition; ArsTechnica.com, 11/17/11

Nate Anderson, ArsTechnica.com; Strange bedfellows: Nancy Pelosi, Ron Paul join SOPA opposition:

"And Pelosi is far from the only member of Congress opposed to the legislation. On Tuesday, ten members of Congress signed a "dear colleague" letter expressing concerns with the bill. The signers were nine Democrats plus Rep Ron Paul (R-TX), a libertarian-leaning candidate for the GOP presidential nomination...

Also opposed to the legislation is Rep. Darrel Issa (R-CA)."

Stop Sopa now; Guardian, 11/16/11

Dan Gilmor, Guardian; Stop Sopa now:

"America is fond of chiding other nations about freedom of speech in the internet age. Leaders including President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are constantly reminding their global counterparts, especially in places like China, that internet censorship is a detriment to open government and honest self-rule. Yet, the Obama administration has used tactics that smell of censorship, and Congress is making common cause with a corporate cartel that wants to turn the internet into little more than an enhanced form of cable television. In the name of protecting copyright holders, they would censor the internet and force entrepreneurs to get permission to innovate."

Novelist Fights the Tide by Opening a Bookstore; New York Times, 11/15/11

Julie Bosman, New York Times; Novelist Fights the Tide by Opening a Bookstore:

"Cultural leaders convened meetings in the public library to discuss who could step in and open a new bookstore. One idea, to start a co-op requiring small investments of $1,000, never got off the ground.

“People were greeting each other in grocery stores, at holiday parties, wringing our hands,” said Beth Alexander, the president of the board at the Nashville Public Library Foundation, the private fund-raising arm of the library. “We’re home to two dozen universities. We need to have a bookstore other than a campus bookstore, and people were looking at each other and saying, ‘We’re very concerned about this.’ ”

Ms. Patchett, meanwhile, hatched a plan of her own. She had money, connections and countless time spent on book tours. Soon she began posing the question to friends: What if she started a bookstore?"

ReDigi, Reseller of Digital Music, Responds to Industry Criticism; New York Times, 11/15/11

New York Times; ReDigi, Reseller of Digital Music, Responds to Industry Criticism:

"What follows are excerpts from ReDigi’s response to the letter from the recording industry’s trade group..."

Sopa condemned by web giants as 'internet blacklist bill'; Guardian, 11/16/11

Dominic Rushe, Guardian; Sopa condemned by web giants as 'internet blacklist bill' :

"Internet firms including Wikipedia owner Wikimedia, eBay, Google, Twitter and others protested as Congress discussed the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) now passing through Washington.

The act aims to tackle online piracy by giving the US Justice Department new powers to go after websites, both domestically and abroad, that host disputed copyright material. The act would allow the US to effectively pull the plug on websites and go after companies that support them technically or through payment systems. A vote on the bill could come as early as next month."

SOPA, The Internet Censorship Bill, Was Lauded By Both Parties In Key House Hearing; HuffingtonPost.com, 11/16/11

Zach Carter and Ryan Grim, HuffingtonPost.com; SOPA, The Internet Censorship Bill, Was Lauded By Both Parties In Key House Hearing:

"At a House Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, Democrats and Republicans joined together to voice support for legislation that would criminalize much of the activity that occupies the Internet. The bipartisan bill known as the Stop Online Piracy Act would establish major new powers for corporations intent on corralling copyrighted materials -- powers that would lead to big legal bills for start-ups and Silicon Valley giants alike."

Site to Resell Music Files Has Critics; New York Times, 11/14/11

Ben Sisario, New York Times; Site to Resell Music Files Has Critics:

"A legitimate secondhand marketplace for digital music has never been tried successfully, in part because few people think of reselling anything that is not physical. But last month a new company, ReDigi, opened a system that it calls a legal and secure way for people to get rid of unwanted music files and buy others at a discount.

The service has already drawn concern from music executives and legal scholars, who say it is operating in a gray area of the law. Last Thursday the Recording Industry Association of America, which represents the major record companies, sent ReDigi a cease-and-desist letter, accusing it of copyright infringement.

John Ossenmacher, ReDigi’s chief executive, contends that the service complies with copyright law, and that its technology offers safeguards to allay the industry’s concerns that people might profit from pirated music."

Library Copyright Alliance Voices Concerns Over Anti-Piracy Legislation; Library Journal, 11/9/11

David Rapp, Library Journal; Library Copyright Alliance Voices Concerns Over Anti-Piracy Legislation:

"The Library Copyright Alliance (LCA)—whose members include the American Library Association, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and the Association of College & Research Libraries—yesterday released a letter [PDF] written to the ranking members of the House Judiciary Committee to voice "serious concerns" about two provisions in H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) [PDF], which could greatly increase penalties for copyright infringement."

[Book Review]; Free Ride: How Digital Parasites Are Destroying the Culture Business and How the Culture Business Can Fight Back, by Robert Levine; Business Week, 11/3/11

[Book Review] David Kamp, Business Week; Free Ride by Robert Levine:

"Now, as if to bolster Sulzberger’s resolve, comes Free Ride, Robert Levine’s unrelenting indictment of the free-content ethos that has dominated digital activism. Know that old Irving Kristol maxim that a neoconservative is a liberal who has been mugged by reality? Well, Free Ride is the book for the Net utopian who has been mugged by insolvency. It’s a riposte of sorts to Chris Anderson’s 2009 book Free: The Future of a Radical Price, which posits that in the digital economy, “free is not just an option, it’s the inevitable endpoint.”

Levine, a former executive editor of Billboard magazine, is here to say that this line of thinking is, to use the clinical macroeconomics term, a load of bollocks. The model of offering up content for free and making up for this lost revenue stream through advertising may work well for the likes of Google (GOOG), YouTube, and the Huffington Post, but it’s hell on the original-content creators upon which these sites ultimately depend: the professional class of reporters, authors, musicians, filmmakers, and producers whose work—books, articles, songs, TV shows, and movies—is still what the public is ultimately looking for."

Sirius’s Move to Bypass a Royalty Payment Clearinghouse Causes an Uproar; New York Times, 11/6/11

Ben Sisario, New York Times; Sirius’s Move to Bypass a Royalty Payment Clearinghouse Causes an Uproar:

"SoundExchange, a nonprofit group, was founded in 2000 and is authorized by the United States Copyright Office to collect one kind of royalty for digital music. The royalty, the performance right for sound recordings, pays performers and record companies when their songs are played on digital streams like satellite radio and Pandora. (In a rule that has annoyed record companies and musicians for decades, terrestrial radio pays only songwriters and publishers.)"

Justin Bieber: Klobuchar should be 'locked up'; Star Tribune, 10/28/11

Jeremy Herb, Star Tribune; Justin Bieber: Klobuchar should be 'locked up' :

"A teen pop superstar wants to throw Sen. Amy Klobuchar in jail.

Pop sensation Justin Bieber said that he thought Klobuchar should be “locked up” for a bill she’s proposed that would make it a felony to profit from streaming unlicensed online content."

E-PARASITE Bill: 'The End Of The Internet As We Know It'; TechDirt.com, 10/27/11

Mike Masnick, TechDirt.com; E-PARASITE Bill: 'The End Of The Internet As We Know It' :

"We already wrote about the ridiculously bad E-PARASITE bill (the Enforcing and Protecting American Rights Against Sites Intent on Theft and Exploitation Act), but having now had a chance go to through the full bill a few more times, there are even more bad things in there that I missed on the first read-through. Now I understand why Rep. Zoe Lofgren's first reaction to this bill was to say that "this would mean the end of the Internet as we know it."

She's right. The more you look at the details, the more you realize how this bill is an astounding wishlist of everything that the legacy entertainment gatekeepers have wanted in the law for decades and were unable to get. It effectively dismantles the DMCA's safe harbors, what's left of the Sony Betamax decision, puts massive liability on tons of US-based websites, and will lead to widespread blocking of websites and services based solely on accusations of some infringement. It's hard to overstate just how bad this bill is."

A Store of Images, From a Time When ‘Cut and Paste’ Meant Just That; New York Times, 10/30/11

Noam Cohen, New York Times; A Store of Images, From a Time When ‘Cut and Paste’ Meant Just That:

"THE sign in blue lettering read “Copyright-Free Images,” which may not rank with “Zero Percent Financing” or “Everything Must Go” when it comes to sales pitches. But it does have “free” in it, and it was enough to catch my eye while visiting London."

How to Reform Copyright; Chronicle of Higher Education, 10/9/11

Lewis Hyde, Chronicle of Higher Education; How to Reform Copyright:

"James Madison presumably wrote the clause in the Constitution that allows Congress to give copyrights to authors, but even Madison had his reservation. The founding fathers considered copyright a "monopoly privilege" and, as Madison later wrote, "Monopolies ... ought to be granted with caution ... ." Two concerns lay behind that wariness. For the founders, both democratic self-governance and the conversation of creative communities demanded very low barriers to the circulation of knowledge and, therefore, strict restraint of monopoly privileges. Thus does the Constitution stipulate that copyrights be granted only for "limited times." "A temporary monopoly ... ought to be temporary," Madison declared. "Perpetual monopolies of every sort are forbidden ... by the genius of free Governments."

All that has changed, of course, the term of copyright now being statistically almost indistinguishable from a perpetual grant. How might that be corrected? How might we return to something more in line with the founders' caution and closer to their vision of both democracy and creativity?

Consider one proposal."

A National Digital Public Library Begins to Take Shape; Chronicle of Higher Education, 10/25/11

Jennifer Howard, Chronicle of Higher Education; A National Digital Public Library Begins to Take Shape:

"The Digital Public Library of America doesn't exist yet, but it's closer to becoming a reality.

At an energized meeting held here at the National Archives on Friday, representatives from top cultural institutions and public and research libraries expressed robust support for the proposed library, which would create a portal to allow the public to get easy online access to collections held at many different institutions."

The case for piracy; ABC, 10/20/11

Nick Ross, ABC; The case for piracy:

"We've been deluged with the arguments against piracy for years. But what's the other side of the story? Could it possibly be that copyright infringers and pirates aren't always the bad guys? Are copyright owners their own worst enemy? Judge for yourself and tell us what you think."

U.S. Copyright Office Outlines "Priorities and Special Projects"; Publishers Weekly, 10/26/11

Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly; U.S. Copyright Office Outlines "Priorities and Special Projects" :

"Orphan works, preservation for libraries, mass digitization, and fighting digital piracy are among the priorities set by the Register of Copyrights Maria A. Pallante this week in a paper outlining the U.S. Copyyright Office's "priorities and special projects" for the next two years. In all, the paper articulates 17 priorities in the areas of copyright policy and administrative practice, and 10 "new projects" designed to "improve the quality and efficiency" of the U.S. Copyright Office’s services in the 21st century. The paper also summarizes the state of global policy, including U.S. trade negotiations, anti-piracy efforts and international discussions of exceptions and limitations."

Sylvester Stallone faces lawsuit over Expendables plot; Guardian, 10/27/11

Henry Barnes, Guardian; Sylvester Stallone faces lawsuit over Expendables plot:

"Sylvester Stallone is facing a lawsuit from a writer who claims the actor stole the plot for ensemble action blockbuster The Expendables from a short story he filed with the US copyright office in 2006."

The Digital Death of Copyright's First Sale Doctrine; Freedom to Tinker, 10/11/11

Annemarie Bridy, Freedom to Tinker; The Digital Death of Copyright's First Sale Doctrine:

"As the transition from physical to streaming or cloud-based digital distribution continues, further divorcing copyrighted works from their traditional tangible embodiments, it will increasingly be the case that consumers do not own the information goods they buy (or, rather, think they've bought). Under the court's decision in Vernor, all a copyright owner has to do to effectively repeal the statutory first sale doctrine is draft a EULA that (1) specifies that the user is granted a license; (2) significantly restricts the user's ability to transfer the software; and (3) imposes notable use restrictions."

Rihanna and David LaChapelle settle lawsuit over S&M video; Guardian, 10/20/11

Sean Michaels, Guardian; Rihanna and David LaChapelle settle lawsuit over S&M video:

"Rihanna has settled a lawsuit from photographer David LaChapelle, who accused her of copying his photographs for one of her music videos. Earlier this summer, LaChappelle won the right to go to trial to contest the singer's alleged use of his Italian Vogue images in the video for her song S&M...

Although Rihanna's lawyers claimed LaChapelle was "trying to monopolise a whole genre" of sadomasochistic images, Scheindlin dismissed the issue of fair use."

Kanye West, Jay-Z Sued Over Uncleared 'Throne' Sample; Billboard, 10/18/11

Eriq Gardner, Billboard; Kanye West, Jay-Z Sued Over Uncleared 'Throne' Sample:

"Syl Johnson, a respected musician who created many successful blues and soul songs in the 1960s and 1970s, has filed a lawsuit against hip hop superstars Kanye West and Jay-Z over an allegedly uncleared sample on the duo's latest album, "Watch the Throne.""

[Op-Ed] The Public Domain; New York Times, 10/11/11

[Op-Ed] New York Times; The Public Domain:

"Copyright gives writers and others the incentive to create by giving them exclusive right to their work. But Congress’s power to grant copyright is limited in time and scope so that works can move into the public domain, where they become an essential part of our culture. The government must find other ways to comply with the trade treaty without curbing free expression."

Kookaburra Sitting Pretty in That Old Gum Tree as Court Upholds Copyright Ruling; New York Times, 10/7/11

James C. McKinley, Jr., New York Times; Kookaburra Sitting Pretty in That Old Gum Tree as Court Upholds Copyright Ruling:

"Men at Work, the Australian rock band, lost its final bid Friday to overturn a court ruling that it had stolen a flute riff on its 1980s hit “Down Under” from a children’s song, The Associated Press reported."

Copyright Law Challenged; Wall Street Journal, 10/6/11

Jess Bravin, Wall Street Journal; Copyright Law Challenged:

"The potential stakes are huge, and again pit old industry against new...

Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, defending the law, said it brought the U.S. into a convention that can protect American intellectual property abroad and amounted to "the price of admission to the international system."

Several justices, however, doubted that taking books and music by long-dead authors out of the public domain could promote the "progress" the Constitution sought to spur through copyright.

Justice Stephen Breyer, who dissented from the 2003 domestic-copyright case, said the government's position could undermine scholarship and preservation if researchers end up being forced to hire lawyers to track down owners or risk ignoring the law.

He cited the example of a group that seeks to preserve and publish Jewish music from the early 20th century but because the Nazis destroyed Eastern Europe's Jewish communities cannot identify the copyright owners."